$100 Dollar Night Cream vs. The Sweet Potato: Eating for Healthy Skin

There are hundreds of creams and serums on the market that are supposed to make your skin the most beautiful it can possibly be.  Most of them cost an arm and a leg.  On top of that, you usually need one for day and one for night. Before you know it, you have a hundred dollars worth of lotions cluttering up your medicine cupboard.  In reality, a better diet and drinking more water will do more for your skin than any lotion, no matter how "specially formulated" that lotion is.

I think it is somewhat easy for us to forget that skin is an organ.  And, like all of our other organs, our skin will function better if we eat a nutrient rich diet.  The best foods for achieving beautiful, glowing, healthy skin are the orange foods because of their high vitamin A content.  Vitamin A is also useful in treating acne and psoriasis.  Canteloupe, apricots, carrots, and yams are among the best foods you can consume to improve the health of your skin. Biotin is another nutrient that can affect your skin health.  It is most commonly found in eggs and salmon.  Biotin deficiency can cause a facial rash as well as hair loss.  Omega-6 is also quite instrumental in healing damaged skin.  Omega-6 is found in avacados and nuts.  Aside from healing your skin, this powerful nutrient is also linked to good brain activity and function.

There are some foods that will actually damage your skin and/or increase eczema flare-ups.  These include pretty much all processed foods and dairy products, especially milk.

While increasing your intake of foods rich in vitamin A, biotin, and omega-6 will do a lot to improve your skin, simply eating a balanced and varied diet will also do a lot to help you out.  And, even though these foods will help you, drinking plenty of water will do just as much for you.  The other beverages we love to comsume like tea, coffee, and sodas are dehydrating.  For balance, you should drink two glasses of water for ever cup of coffee, tea, or soda consumed.

What to Know About the Juice Craze

There is a juice craze in our nation.  With the concept of juicing gaining popularity, there seems to be an influx of "health" juices crowding market refrigerators.  There are even fusion juices that claim there is a full serving of fruits and vegetables inside every serving of juice.  This is a lie.  For any juice to remain on a shelf or in a refrigerator for more than three days it has to pasteurized.  Pasteurization is excellent at killing microorganism that will make us sick.  It is also excellent at killing the enzymes and vitamins that will make us healthy.  Therefore, any bottled juice cannot contain a full serving of fruits or vegetables because the enzymes and vitamins that make those foods worth eating have been eliminated.

Juicing for health requires you to press or squeeze your own fruits and vegetables.  Advantages to making and consuming raw juice includes instant absorption of the available nutrients.  Your body doesn't have to work as hard to process carrot juice as it does to process a serving of raw carrots.  Juicing is an excellent idea for people who are facing health concerns or anyone who is having problems with a vitamin deficiency.  The problem with juicing is that it requires a commitment free of shortcuts.  Drinking juice bought off of a store shelf or out of a store refrigerator does not produce the same effect and can even lead to a vitamin deficiency.

We are a culture looking for quick fixes.  When something is wrong, we want a pill and when we are told to improve our diets we want a miracle shake.  The easiest and cheapest way for you to be the healthiest person you can possibly be is to buy and consume raw foods.  Baby carrots, nuts, and grapes require no preparation aside from washing.  These foods are ready to go any time of day and when eaten raw or made into raw juice provide you with nutrients that will help you reclaim your health.

Be cautious of marketing strategies at the store.  Just because something claims to be organic, all-natural, or vitamin rich does not mean that it is. 

Steak and Potato Syndrome: Certain Foods Cannot Be Properly Digested Together

If you are looking for the culprit behind your indigestion, acid reflux, IBS, or other similar digestive disease you likely don't need to look any further than the American "square" meal.  Your body secretes special enzymes and juices to break down food.  Protein, fat, carboyhdrates, and sugars all require different enzymes for digestion.  And, unfortunately, your body cannot secrete the various enzymes needed to digest the average meal at the same time.  Some enzymes live in acid based juices while others live in alkaline based juices.  Eating foods that produce acid along with foods that produce alkaline will inhibit the proper enzyme secretion needed to digest your entire meal.  When foods go undigested for too long because the proper enzyme is not being secreted, they ferment in the digestive tract releasing gases and eventually being converted to stored fat.  This can eventually cause nutrient deficiency and weight gain.

The most unhealthy food combination in terms of digestion is eating a high level protein with a high level carbohydrate.  I call it "steak and potato syndrome."  Eating proteins and carbs together will inhibit your ability to properly digest either food.  It is also unwise to mix proteins in the same meal.  There is not one enzyme or juice that takes care of digesting all proteins.  Each protein requires a specific enzyme and a specific time release to be digested. Eggs, nuts, cheese, and animal proteins should not be eaten together.  Sorry folks, but cheesburgers and surf and turf have got to go.

Fats inhibit the secretion of some digestive juices, specifically those required to digest proteins.  The body will naturally break down the protein first in the instance that fat and protein are in the body simultaneously.  Fats will then remain undigested in the body until the protein is fully processed, which takes about six hours.  When you eat fatty proteins like meats and nuts your body follows the same process of protein first, fat later.  This is why eating a handful of nuts can help stave off  hunger.  Because most proteins also contain a considerable amount of natural fat and take so long to digest, it is in your interest limit other fats like oil and butter so your body has time to process what is already available.

When acidic fruits are combined with carbohydrates or proteins, the result is bloating.  The body will process the acidic fruits first and delay the breakdown of protein or carbs.  As previously mentioned, protein takes several hours to digest.  Delaying the processing of protein and carbs causes more fermentation in the body which causes gas build-up and the gas build-up in turn causes the bloating.

If you eat sugar and starch together, the sugar will prevent your body from producing any of the enzymes needed to break down the starch.  That's right, pastries and danishes really are bad for your digestion.  This news makes me sad too.

There are two common foods that should never be consumed with any other foods.  These are milk and melon.  Milk is not digested in the stomach.  Because it contains protein strands that will not be broken down in the stomach, it can prevent nutrient absorption from other foods.  In general, milk is not a healthy choice for children or adults.  But, if you insist on having it, drink it seperately from meals and snacks.  If you are concerned about getting enough calcium, up your intake of dark, leafy greens such as kale, spinach, and arugula.  Melons are meant to break down rapidly in the digestive system.  If they are eaten with other foods the breakdown will be delayed and this can result in discomfort.  Any type of melon is better consumed away from meal times.

So far, this post is depressing.  It basically says to not eat anything you like.  Let's talk about some alternative combinations that will taste good and work well with your digestive system.  Instead of having your steak, chicken, or fish with a heaping pile of mashed potatoes, serve it over a nice spinach salad or alongside some asparagus, green beans, or another low starch vegetable of your choice. Some of the best news you will receive today is that it is okay to eat fat and starch together.  Go ahead and have buttered corn with your mashed potatoes (use organic butter).  Or, if you want a nutrient rich combination, feel free to stir some coconut oil into your mashed sweet potatoes.

Of course your diet should always contain a broad spectrum of nutrients.  Just remember it is best to not consume the full spectrum every time you eat.  Feel free to snack instead.  Eat smaller "meals" several times a day and make them simple.  Have a fruit salad for breakfast, a starch with a vegetable medley for lunch, and a protein with a salad for dinner.  Eat melon in between ;)

Soy Products: Friend or Foe?

In recent years, soy has become thought of as something of a wonder food.  Vegetarians near and far rely on it as a protein source.  Soy is best known for its isoflavones, which are high in antioxidants as well as being anticarcinogenic.  Isoflavones are only present in fermented soy products.  Examples of fermented soy products include miso and tempeh.  Eating fermented soy products is a good health choice.  Eating everything else made of soy, however, is another story entirely.

Unfermented soy products like soy milk, soy-based vegetarian foods, edamame, and tofu are being linked to an increasing number of health problems.  Unfermented soy contains phytates, an anti-nutrient that actually blocks vitamin and mineral absorption from other foods.  Alarmingly, magnesium, calcium, and zinc are among the mineral deficiences associated with diets high in soy.  Soy is also linked to excessive estrogen production which can cause problems with hormone imbalance and fertility. Eating excessive amounts of soy is also linked with poor thyroid function and can even cause the thryroid to become unnaturally enlarged.  Poor thyroid function, along with poor circulation is attributed to decreased libido and weight gain.

You may be thinking that cutting out soy is easy enough.  Many of you probably were never that into tofu anyway.  But, think harder.  Soy is hiding in just about every processed food on the market.  It is in your breakfast cereal, potato chips, snack crackers, some processed cheeses, fast food, frozen dinners, and canned soups.  It is difficult to come by any packaged food product that does not say either "May contain soy" or "processed in a facility that uses soy"  The truth is that we are ingesting hydrolyzed soy on a daily basis without even seeking out a soy product.  Over time the anti-nutrients are building up in our bodies and making it harder for us to get the vitamins and minerals from the healthy foods we choose.

So, next time you decide to make a vegetarian stir-fry at home, switch out the extra firm tofu for tempeh and remember that healthy proteins are also easily found in beans and sprouted grains and in bean and alfalfa sprouts.

Stressed Out? Put The Cocktail Down!

We all go through times in our lives when stress and anxiety are running the show.  There seems to always be something uncomfortable that needs to be dealt with and sometimes there seems to be a million uncomfortable things to deal with at once.  I don't know about you but my reaction to a long, trying day is usually to consume lots of coffee (my caffeine of choice) while trudging through the day, and to have a glass of wine, a beer, or a cocktail (maybe sometimes even two or three) at the end of that bad day.  When we do this, we are only making things worse for ourselves.  Stimulants can increase anxiety and associated symptoms, such as quicker heart rate.  If you really want to help yourself, simply do what you should do anyway-put the cocktail down and eat your fruits and veggies.

Green, yellow, and orange vegetables all contain nutrients that help to keep anxiety at bay.  Foods containing tryptophan such as bananas, peanut butter, sesame seeds, and nuts are also known to have a calming effect.

Next time you have a bad day, try having a spinach salad with shredded carrots, avacado and yellow bell pepper slices, and sesame seeds.  Once you are feeling a little better you can have that tempting glass of wine for dessert.

The Right Fat Won't Kill You. It Will Only Make You Stronger

Our ears are full of negative thoughts on food these days.  We hear about how obese and disease ridden our nation is.  We hear about weird dieting tricks and intense weight loss programs.  One guy comes out with a book that says eat all the fat you want, but don't eat any carbs.  Then another guy writes a book that suggests you eat all the carbs you want, but leave out fat.  Some people say to eat only or mostly protein.  My opinion is that all of this is mumbo jumbo.  Our bodies are designed for us to be omnivores and omnivores only thrive when they consume a wide variety of foods.  We need the carbs, the fats, the proteins, the vitamins, enzymes, and minerals.  We need all of it.  Maybe we should stop blaming certain groups of foods and look at the bigger picture.  Though there is an insanely vast availability of food in this country, the quality of the food leaves much to be desired.

Do you ever wonder why portion control at meals is so difficult?  I believe it can be attributed to the lack of nutrients found in the most common foods at the market.  We consume more of everything because our bodies need us too in order to get the proper amount of nutrients.  If we were to eat more nutrient dense foods that were grown organically and cooked properly, we might just naturally adjust our food portions to a more appropriate size.

Healthy fats come in many forms.  Avacados, conconuts, olives, nuts, and seeds all contain fats that our bodies need to thrive.  Most of us who do get these fats likely get them from oils pressed from these foods.  While olive oil is always a healthier choice than vegetable, canola, or corn oils, it may not be as healthy as you think.  There are two ways of extracting oil from fruits and seeds-heat pressing and expeller (or cold) pressing.  Heat pressing is the more common form used because this process produces more oil.  But, it also kills the nutrients in the oil and can even convert those nutrients to toxins.  Cold pressed oil retains those nutrients, specifically powerful antioxidants that keep the oil fresh and help our bodies to clear toxins out.

While olive oil is a fine choice to have on hand, the best oil you can use is cold pressed cocount oil.  This oil is so good for you that it is among the top ten superfoods worldwide.  First off, coconut oil has the least amount of calories compared to any other known fat source.  Coconut oil improves digestion, contains fatty acids that help fight off fungi, bacteria, and viruses, aids in absorption of the right kinds of calcium and magnesium, helps regulate the thyroid gland, regulates hormone production, helps your body properly use essential fatty acids, and increases metabolism thereby aiding in weightloss.  The effects of this oil are best felt if it isn't cooked.  While it can still make an excellent marinade, it is best used as an ingredient for salad dressing or drizzled on other foods toward the end of their cooking time.

An easy use would be to add it to a tuna or salmon salad as it will help you absorb and use the omega-3's in those foods.

The Sweet Life: Tricking Your Taste Buds With a Top Ranking Superfood

 I think  all of us Americans can agree that we live in a culture that is addicted to sugar.  We say we can't get through the day without our soft drinks.  When hungry and busy we reach for granola bars or whatever else is nicely packaged and only 100 calories per serving. We can be quick to reach for a frozen dinner.  We know these things are destroying our futures.  But, they are also destroying our daily lives.  Full of refined carbohydrates, refinded sugar, and an ingredient list that is 2/3 preservatives; these "foods" (if they even deserve such a title) actually just make us feel tired and weak.  We know they are bad.  But, we eat them anyway.  Why?  Because we are too busy, overtired, and stressed to the max.  And, in the moments when we feel we can't take it anymore, we are quick to satisfy our sugar addiction.  Worry not.  There is a way to satisfy your addiction and take excellent care of your body. 

The answer is honey.  Of the 10 top ranking superfoods, honey is the only one widely harvested in the continental U.S. and it has far more uses than a way to make your herbal tea a little more palatable.  However, like so many other foods that have been made widely available to us, not all honey is created equally.  First of all, honey is only worth your money if you buy raw honey.  Pasteurized honey does not contain any enzymes whereas raw honey is full of them.  The enzymes in raw honey are so good at fighting off infection that honey is used medicinally for ear and sinus infections and can even speed the healing of open wounds when applied directly.  Consuming raw honey is also known to aid in weight loss and helps you to absorb the minerals in other foods.  It is also very important that you use organic honey.  Bees farmed organically consume natural flower pollens from their surrounding environment.  Bees not farmed organically are often actually fed high fructose corn syrup.  Honey gets its enzymes from the pollen the bees are consuming so if you don't buy raw organic you may as well stick with that sack of white cane sugar. 

While not imperative like being organic and raw, I also recommend that you try to buy local honey.  If you consume honey made from the plants in the area where you live, the honey can actually work as a histamine blocker and reduce the effects of seasonal allergies. 

Use raw organic honey anytime you would normally use sugar or syrup.  Drizzle it over your waffles at brunch, stir it into your cookie and cake batters.  It also makes an excellent homemade salad dressing ingredient or marinade for fish or vegetables.
I find that combining a couple of tablespoons of oil with about 1/2 cup of fresh squeezed orange juice, and 2-4 tbsp of raw organic honey and 1 tsp of dried oregano makes an excellent marinade for a nice piece of wild caught salmon.

Drink Too Much Beer Yesterday? Eat This Today

I believe that today, being the day after St. Patrick’s Day, is a good day to address how to eat in order to improve liver function.  There are a million strange hangover cures out there.  I have even heard of people drinking raw eggs after an indulgent night out.  The truth is if you want to promote liver function, you need to take the protein consumption down a notch and up your plant intake.  This is a day for salads my friends, not rare steak!

The most important food to have on the menu is at least one type of cruciferous vegetable.  Examples of these include broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and Brussels sprouts. Cruciferous vegetables are known to detoxify the liver directly.  You should also consume foods that detoxify your body in general.  Beets are good for cleaning your blood.  Fruits high in antioxidants are a good choice as well.  Easy options include apples, pears, berries, oranges, and grapefruit.  Eating these foods will keep your liver from having to work as hard.

There are a few things that are important to avoid when concerned with liver function.  Stay away from canned foods, frozen dinners, condiments, and prepared meats such as bacon and deli meat.

Try having a salad of arugula, shredded beets, chopped oranges, and broccoli florets.  Avoid preservatives by making your own dressing at home using a little olive oil and a juice or vinegar. Simply whisk the oil and acid of your choice together and pour over the salad.

 

Cabbage: Beyond the Traditional Irish and German Fare

Cabbage.  It is full of vitamin C.  In fact, cabbage contains more vitamin C than oranges.  Cabbage is also rich in Iodine which contributes to a healthier nervous system, helping you to think and learn better while reducing your risk of Alzheimer’s disease.  Sulphur is known for helping to heal wounds and infections.  Guess what, cabbage has a lot of it too.  Beyond all this, cabbage is also a “cleansing” food.  It will rid your body of toxins, thereby promoting good skin health and even reducing eczema flare-ups in some people.

Cabbage is used in several cultures and can easily be found in your Chinese take-out, at a 4^th of July picnic, or in some delightful, traditional Irish and German dishes.  However, like the potato, cabbage is not often prepared in ways that help us get the maximum health benefit.  It is often either boiled and salted into oblivion or smothered in a dressing so full of sugar, fat, and preservatives that it could be about as healthy as a milk chocolate bar.

Vitamin C has come to be widely known as one of the most important nutrients.  Beyond being a major immune system booster, it is also helpful in treating depression.  It is also a nutrient that is easily depleted from foods by overcooking them.  While boiled cabbage isn’t at all bad for you, it is not as good for you as raw or lightly cooked cabbage.

 If you are adding it to soup, try adding the cabbage toward then end of the cooking time for your soup.  It may be a little crisper but it will retain more of the nutrients. You can also try shredding it into a salad.  I would recommend adding it to romaine lettuce or various types of field greens as iceberg lettuce is highly lacking in nutrients.

My favorite way to eat cabbage is to lightly sauté it in cold pressed olive oil with red apple slices, purple onion, and a few walnuts.  Because of the juice in the apple and the fat in the walnuts you can use less olive oil. 

Newer studies are showing that fermented foods, like sauerkraut, should be part of our diets for the purpose of ingesting healthy bacteria that will aid in proper digestion and better colon health.  Because sauerkraut is made using raw cabbage, it retains almost all of the nutrients that it began with.  Sauerkraut is also cheap and delicious.  But, you must be careful.  Sauerkraut jarred and sold from store shelves is often overly salted and full of nitrates for preservation purposes.  While most of us can easily claim we do not have time to make our own sauerkraut, it is worth your while to read labels and try to get some that has been preserved without the use of nitrates.

Exotic foods and specialty grocery stores have been gaining popularity for quite some time.  Keep in mind that when it comes to getting the best nutrients for your body; you need not look further than your local grocery store, farmer’s market, or backyard garden.

Ode to the Potato-Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Though potatoes are not native to Ireland, the Irish had it right in adopting and spreading the farming of these magnificent root vegetables.  Potatoes are filling, low in calories, high in fiber, and one of the most potassium rich foods available.  Potatoes contain 2 important phytochemicals-flavonoids and kukoamine, which are known to lower blood pressure.  They are also a good source of iron and copper, two metals associated with good heart health.  I cannot forget to point out that potatoes are also readily available and amazingly cheap.

Potatoes are getting a bad reputation these days.  “Carbs”is no longer necessarily a friendly term.  The truth is that healthy carbohydrates are an important aspect of our diets in terms of energy level.  While most of us could probably use to ease up on the white pasta, bread, and rice; we cannot afford to lose the nutrients found in carbohydrate rich vegetables and grains.

The truth is, the potato has never been the problem.  But, the way we choose to eat them certainly has room for improvement.  News Flash:  French fries are not a vegetable (fried or baked).  A baked potato smothered in salt,  butter, sour cream, and some sort of factory made cheese isn’t doing our waistlines any favors either-even if you put some broccoli on there too.

I wish I could say I understand completely that a potato on its own is simply not appetizing.  But, the truth is, I love them skin and all.  I do understand that not everyone shares my enthusiasm for this glorious food in its most original form.  So, I have a few suggestions for keeping potatoes in your life and making them worth your body’s while.

First of all, always try to bake or grill over frying.  Try dressing that big steaming baked potato with low fat or nonfat plain Greek yogurt in place of sour cream and butter.  Also, if you simply can’t do without cheese-the “harder” the cheese the better.  I would suggest parmesan, pecorino, or romano cheeses.  They are more flavorful so you can use less and still get great taste.  If roasted potatoes are your thing, make sure to use cold pressed extra virgin olive oil.  Use half as much as most recipes call for and supplement with fresh squeezed lemon juice and/or vegetable stock.  You can also make mashed or whipped potatoes using the Greek yogurt in place of milk and butter.  Garlic is also a heart healthy food.  So, try spicing with that over salt.  Anytime you can add a cleansing herb like fresh cilantro or parsley you should do so.

Don’t give up on potatoes.  Foods found in nature are never the enemy.  The factory made and processed junk we add to them for “flavor” most certainly is.

I wish you a blessed and joyful St. Paddy’s day, full of wondrously healthy potatoes!

“As you slide down the banister of life, may the splinters never point in the wrong direction.”

Not All Tuna Salads are Created Equal

I love asking children questions because they give the best and most honest answers.  I was lucky enough to have an outing today with the kids I nanny for.  I asked the six year old what topic I should use for my cooking blog today and she answered, “You should probably write about avocados since you are always eating them.  Or maybe tuna because I love your tuna salad.  Actually, write about sneaking vegetables into everything because you are always doing that.”  I thought, why not all three?

While I like to advocate for the importance of a diet consisting of the freshest foods that are grown or raised organically and as close to home as possible, the modern American lifestyle does not lend itself to the healthiest eating habits.  We need ideas for foods that are quick, easy, and healthy.  I feel like a very important staple pantry item for pescatarians is canned tuna in water.  It is cheap, easy to store, rich in those omega-3 fatty acids doctors are always talking about, and an excellent base for all kinds of creative recipes.

Tuna salad doesn’t have to be full of fatty mayonnaise.  While the more traditional recipes are delicious, there are easy ways to dress up your tuna and make it one of the best possible quick and healthy choices for a lunch or dinner on one of those really busy days.

One of my personal favorites is something I call “Mediterranean” Tuna Salad.  I drain the tuna and mix it with chopped black olives, diced tomatoes, chopped artichoke hearts and chopped fresh Italian parsley.  The tomatoes provide you with antioxidants and carotenoids (yes, carotenoids are found in red veggies along with orange and yellow ones).  Black olives are rich in healthy fats that lower cholesterol, contain vitamin E (an antioxidant that eliminates free radicals and prevents cancer), and aid in nutrient absorption and proper digestion.  And, artichokes are full of antioxidants, magnesium, and potassium, which improve immunity as well as heart and bone health.  Parsley is a cleansing herb, meaning that consuming it cleans toxins out of your body.

I also like to mix a can of tuna with an avocado and a little cumin and chili powder.  The spices are obviously for flavor alone.  But the avocado, aside from being one of my favorite fruits, is so full healthy nutrients thought to prevent several kinds of cancer, especially prostate cancer and oral cancer.  Eating them also improves the health of your skin and eyes. 

These salads are incredibly easy to make and incredibly good for you.  So, next time you have had a long, tough day and are thinking you may as well just pick up a greasy pizza on the way home, consider throwing together a tuna salad instead.  It will make your taste buds and your body happy.

 

 

 

 

Some Foods Belong Together

Most of us know that broccoli is good for us and that tomatoes are good for us.  But, did you know that eating broccoli and tomatoes together in the same meal is even better for us?  The nutrients in broccoli help us absorb the nutrients in tomatoes more completely and vice versa.  Both foods are full of powerful antioxidants-so powerful that eating these two foods together has been known to help men prevent and even fight against prostate cancer. 
Not only are these two foods nutritionally compatible, but they also taste great together.  Try chopping broccoli florets and tomatoes and tossing them with chopped fresh oregano to make a side salad or adding steamed or blanched broccoli to some marinara sauce to pour over pasta for a warm, hearty, healthy meal.

Another tasty and highly beneficial food combination is honey and cinnamon.  Eating these foods together is said to ease arthritis pain, ease cold symptoms, stop hair loss, cure an upset stomach, give a major boost to the immune system, reduce cholesterol, and aid in weight loss.  Try making a paste out of honey and cinnamon and spreading it on sprouted grain toast for a a delicious and healthy start to the day.

Adding freshly squeezed lemon juice to green beans not only enhances the flavor and gives this commonly eaten food a little bit of flair, but also adds enzymes that aid in digestion and help you to better absorb the nutrients.  In fact, add lemon juice to everything you think it may taste good with.  Doing so will also provide you with extra vitamin C.

I hope this has given you some ideas for making some commonly eaten foods much tastier and ways to get the maximum health benefit from the Midwest's most common and easily obtained vegetables.
 

Baking with Health in Mind

Most days, I find it easy to make healthy choices when it comes to food.  I actually like vegetables a lot and can make a meal out of a bowl of steamed green peas and feel satisfied.  But, some days, when the weather is dreary or nothing seems to be going well I cannot help but crave baked goods.  There is just something comforting about all that fat and sugar.  Though pastries are still not an ideal meal for a person who wants to lead a healthy lifestyle, there are simple substitutions for some ingredients that can make your favorite baked goods a little less unhealthy and even provide you with useful nutrients.

For starters, using low fat or fat free Greek yogurt in place of milk or cream will reduce the amount of carbohydrates and add a significant amount of protein to your scones, biscuits, breads, and muffins.  You can also replace sugar with raw local honey.  Eating local honey can reduce reactions to environmental allergies because of your slow ingestion of the pollen in the plants around you.  Raw honey also contains bacteria that can improve the health of your digestive system.  And, of course, there is always the option of replacing refined white flour with whole wheat flour.  I must admit, I like my white flour.  So, I often use half white and half whole wheat flour while baking.  I also buy high quality flour that is unbleached and has no added aluminum (excessive aluminum in the body is a suspected link to Alzheimer’s)

The greatest advantage of baking and cooking your own food is that you control what goes into it.  Homemade pastries lack excessive sugar and preservatives.  And, of course, a scone hot out of the oven tastes much better than one that has been sitting in a pastry case for a couple of days.

 

Goat Cheese and Cranberry Scones

 

Ingredients:

2c flour (white or whole wheat)

1tsp baking powder

¼ tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

¼ c raw honey

½ c Greek yogurt

1 large egg

8 tbsp unsalted sweet cream butter (very cold, even frozen)

Handful of dried cranberries

¼ c fresh crumbled goat cheese

 

Preparations:

Preheat the oven to 400F.  Mix the dry ingredients together in a medium mixing bowl.  Cut the butter into ½ in cubes and rub into the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs.  Whisk together the egg and yogurt.  Stir the honey and the yogurt mixture into the dry ingredients.  The dough should be firm and somewhat elastic.  If it is still crumbly, slowly add water until the desired texture is acquired.  Then stir in the cranberries and goat cheese.  Press the dough into a scone pan or form it into biscuit shapes and place on a greased baking sheet.  Bake at 400F for 15-20 min, or until golden brown on top.  Enjoy them while they are hot.

*I believe they are quite good with an Irish coffee on a Sunday morning ;)

Pumpkins: Beyond the Pie

Believe it or not, pumpkins are much more than a key ingredient in a favored holiday pie or a time-honored, traditional Halloween decoration.  Pumpkins are a Superfood.  Superfoods are basically foods packed with a broad spectrum of nutrients known to benefit overall health and sometimes even prevent diseases.  Pumpkins are known to be low in calories and high in fiber, potassium, magnesium, pantothenic acid, ascorbic acid, vitamin E, and perhaps most importantly, carotenoids.  Diets high in carotenoids correlate with a lowered risk of many forms of cancer (including cervical and breast cancers) AND heart disease.  For more information on the benefits of eating foods rich in carotenoids please click on the link below.

http://www.superfoodsrx.com/superfoods/pumpkin/pumpkin-as-a-super-food.html

Beyond being a Superfood, pumpkin is also one of my favorite ingredients to cook with.  It is easily spiced to take on either a sweet or savory flavor.  While it does, in my opinion, make the best pies, breads, and muffins; pumpkin is also wonderful in soups and pasta dishes.

I would like to share a recipe that can be completely homemade but can also be made using store-bought shortcuts and still taste just as good.

Homemade Pumpkin Ravioli in Sage Butter Sauce

Ingredients:                                                               

15 oz pure pumpkin puree

2 c fresh baby arugula (finely chopped)

1 small shallot (finely chopped)

½ tsp ground or grated nutmeg

Salt

Black pepper

2 Tbsp Fresh Sage (chopped)

4Tbsp Butter

½ c Dry white wine

1 egg

Homemade rolled pasta sheets (or a package of wonton wrappers)

Preparation:

Combine the first 4 ingredients in a mixing bowl and season with salt and pepper to taste.

If you make your own pasta sheets, simply cut out circles of pasta with a biscuit cutter or the top of a drinking glass.  Beat the egg to make a wash and brush it on the pasta rounds (or wonton wrappers).  Place a small amount of the pumpkin mixture in the middle of half of the pasta rounds.  Then top with the remaining pasta rounds and gently press the seams together.

Boil the ravioli until it floats (2-4 minutes for fresh pasta, and 8-10 minutes if you had frozen it)

Meanwhile, make the sage butter sauce by melting the butter in a saucepan and then adding the sage and wine.  Heat uncovered on low heat for about 5 minutes.  Butter will brown and sauce will reduce by almost half

Once the ravioli is done and drained, pour the butter sauce over it and serve immediately.

*Ravioli freezes really well.  I recommend making a lot at once and putting some away in the freezer  for later.

*Also, please note that butter is healthier than margarine as butter is made of naturally occurring fats and margarine is made of things the human body has no clue how to digest.

 

 

 

 

Yes, another cooking blog.

Awhile ago, a friend of mine recommended that I start a cooking blog because it would be a good way of combining my interests of cooking, photography and writing.    Honestly, I wasn't that into the idea.  I  love doing all three of those things, but who else would possibly care?  A lot of people are into cooking these days.  Why wouldn't they be?  We have easy access to more varieties of foods than ever before.  The possible combinations of flavors and textures seem to be unlimited (until you try to come up with something that has never been done before). And, cooking is a way to permeate all five senses.  Oil painting and instrument playing can't do all that. 

On top of all this, people have to eat.  Why not make something we have to do into something we all like to do?  Anyway, a thought crossed my mind today.  I don't just like cooking.  I like cooking with consciousness.  I like researching foods and learning, not only about the tastes and smells, but about what different foods do for our bodies.  I don't only care that my food tastes good.  I care that it makes me stronger and healthier. I also care where it comes from and the impact that its growth and farming has on the environment.  I believe that ideas and information left unshared are pointless and wasted. 

So, if you like knowing what you should eat and how to eat it with delight feel free to keep reading.  I must warn you that I am a "pescatarian" (a vegetarian that occassionally eats fish).  So, there will not be any recipes for fillet mignon in this blog.  But, I hope to share how to make eating a large variety of fruits and vegetables (and occassionally fish) just as auspicious. 

To kick things off, here is a dish I made of my own imagination today:

Grilled Ahi Tuna Tostadas

 

Ingredients:

4 Corn Tostadas

1 Large Ripe Avacado, peeled and thinly sliced

1 Large Shallot, chopped

1 Ripe Mango, peeled and thinly sliced

1 Red Bell Pepper, seeded and thinly sliced

1 Large Lime

¼ c Chopped Fresh Cilantro

4 Tbsp Taco Seasoning

Alfalfa Sprouts

2 8oz Ahi Tuna Steaks (fresh or thawed from frozen and cut into 3/4in strips)

Preparation:

In a medium mixing bowl, combine the tuna strips, mango slices, red pepper slices, cilantro, taco seasoning, shallot, and juice of the lime.  Let rest for 15 minutes while flavors combine.

Line a grill pan with aluminum foil and lightly brush with olive oil.  Preheat the grill pan over medium-high heat.  Grill the tuna mixture until the tuna is cooked through, about 10 to fifteen minutes, tossing occasionally.

Pile alfalfa sprouts on each corn tostada, then top with the grilled tuna mixture and slices of avocado.  Serve immediately.